CLASS DECANDRIA. 229 



At Fig. 113, J, is a flower of the genus Rheum; Mirbel 

 represents it with six styles, as seen in the cut ; this would carry 

 the plant into the order Hexagynia, but as most botanists place 

 it in the order Trigynia, we have described it here. 



We have now closed our consideration of the ninth class. 

 You will recollect that our lecture commenced with the eighth 

 class, which we found, though not large, to be an interesting 

 one. The ninth, with the exception of two genera, laurus and 

 rheum, presented few considerations of importance ; the ninth, 

 the seventh, and first, are among the smallest of the artificial 

 classes. 



We have dwelt somewhat at length upon exotics, because 

 they are seldom described in botanical works in common use. 

 If you become interested in the study of plants, you will natu- 

 rally wish to know something about those which you are in 

 the habit of using for food or medicine, or to which, as in the 

 laurel of the ancients, allusions are often made in the books 

 which you read. 



It is important, however, for you to seek for a practical 

 knowledge of botany from the actual observation of our own 

 native plants ; to find them in their own homes, in the clefts of 

 rocks, by the side of the brooks, and in the shady woods ; it is 

 there you will find nature in her unvitiated simplicity. We do 

 not go to the crowded city to find men exhibiting, without dis- 

 guise, the feelings of the heart. The flower transplanted from 

 its rural abodes, though not a moral agent, and, therefore, in- 

 capable of moral transformation ; yet exhibits, in the splendid 

 green house, a physical metamorphosis not less remarkable than 

 the moral change which luxury too often produces upon the 

 character of man. 



LECTURE XXIX. 



CLASS X. DECANDRIA. 



PLANTS of this class have ten stamens, but this circumstance 

 alone would not distinguish them from some of the other classes ; 

 the number of stamens must not only be ten, but these must be 

 distinct from each other ; that is, neither united together by 

 their filaments below, nor by their anthers above. Some of 

 the classes which are to follow, viz. Monadelphia, Diadelphia, 

 Gynandria, and the two classes with stamens and pistils on 

 separate flowers, may also have ten stamens; but circum- 



Remarks upon some of the classes Knowledge of exotics desirable Flowers 

 in their native situations Class Decandria. 



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